Farmer's Daughter?

When I was nine-years old, we moved from town (Jefferson City, Missouri) to a 60+ acre farm out in the "country."  It was quite a shock to me, and I can remember not being very happy about it.  My dad still worked for the newspaper in town, so I wasn't a "real" farmer's daughter.  

When looking back I can see the move provided an opportunity to learn some life lessons I would have otherwise missed.  Many of those life lessons were centered around food!  We had an acre-size garden with every imaginable vegetable, fruit trees (cherry, pear, peach), chickens (from time-to-time), at least one milk cow and herds of "beef" cattle.  In addition, my mom was always finding other local "farms" where she could pick or buy the other fruits we didn't grow, i.e. strawberries, blackberries, grapes, etc.

Although I didn't love the labor of picking fruits or vegetables, processing them and then canning or freezing them, I certainly loved the end product--cherry preserves, blackberry jelly, strawberry jam and more.  

We didn't always have a milk cow, but when we did, my favorite thing to do was to churn butter.  Just when you were about to give up thinking the liquid was never going to come to anything, a few more turns of the churn and you'd hear a clunking sound as the butter came together.  A few minutes later and you could be spreading said butter on a piece of bread, and if it was homemade bread, that was even better!   

Now, before you think I've been making butter here in San Salvador, let me tell you that I have not.  I have, however, been making my own Greek yogurt, which is pretty close to butter, right?  You might wonder why am I making my own Greek yogurt, so here are the reasons, in no particular order:  

• It's easy--I make it in the crockpot.  I use this recipe:  Easy Greek Yogurt
• It's good--thick and rich, even making it with 2% milk
• It's less expensive than buying it--Greek yogurt is quite expensive here in ES.  For the cost of a gallon of milk, I can make 64 ounces of yogurt which breaks down to about $2.50 per 32 ounces of yogurt.  (Yes, milk is $5 per gallon here.)
• It's low-fat and sugar free--regular yogurt is popular here, but almost all of it is full-fat, sweet and fruity.  I can (usually) find plain Greek yogurt at PriceSmart (our Costco), but trips to PriceSmart are a once-a-month, if not less, event.  I use a lot of Greek yogurt in recipes, so I needed a more stable supply.

The process is easy, but not quick--taking about 14-15 hours in total.  There's lots of waiting time, but I do need to be around at all of the critical moments, so it takes some planning.  Here's a picture of the final step which is straining the yogurt to remove most of the liquid.  You can skip this step, saving 2-3 hours and have regular yogurt, instead of extra-thick Greek yogurt.  

  I'm glad I still have a bit of the "farmer's daughter" in me!  It's come in quite handy living here.  

Day After Grocery Shopping

Yesterday, like normal, it took all morning to do our grocery shopping with stops at Super Selectos (grocery) and PriceSmart (our Costco.)   However, the day after grocery shopping is almost as big of a day as the shopping day.  Why you ask?  Because you have to wash, disinfect and dry all of the vegetables and fruit that you bought the day before.  In case you've forgotten, here in El Salvador the water is not safe to consume and, therefore, the safest way to be sure the fresh vegetables and fruit to eat are safe is to disinfect them.  

While it has always been a chore, now that I am doing my best to eat healthy, I'm buying so much produce that the process takes the whole morning.  The vegetables/fruits have to soak in the disinfectant water for 15-20 minutes so you can see how multiple batches would eat up some time.  When they're done soaking, they need to dry before going in the refrigerator.  If they are still wet when you repack them, they spoil more quickly.  I learned that lesson the hard way with many bags of soggy, ruined lettuce, spinach and more.

Yesterday's produce purchases included:  spinach, romaine lettuce, radishes, cucumbers, English cucumbers, green peppers, avocados, onions, red onions, limes, tomatoes, jalepeños, asparagus, zucchini, carrots, broccoli, blackberries, strawberries, bananas and apples.  Just look at this spread.

You ask, "where are the strawberries and bananas?"  Good question.  I had to do the strawberries yesterday because I made strawberry shortcake to take to our small group last night.  Bananas with their thick skins can be peeled and safely eaten without disinfecting.  Some people extend that same reasoning to any vegetable/fruit which is peeled before eating. However, since Stephen and I experienced first hand the pain, suffering and weight loss which comes from having a parasite, I always err on the side of disinfecting everything.  

Yep, that was my morning.  Coming this afternoon, packing individual portions and freezing all of the fresh meat and fish I bought.